Tried and Truism: When you hear that EVERYONE is doing it...

I had the pleasure of being part of the Leadership in a Connected Age conference yesterday here at Champlain College. Great information shared by speakers Steven Shepard and Elliott Masie. I learned a great deal as always and had some great take aways. If you want to see a "tweet-by-tweet" of the conference, search for #cxage at http://search.twitter.com.

What the speakers got me thinking about even more, however, is the power of perception. We often here that "perception is the reality" and in Marketing we often work to create a perception of success, want, need, etc. around a product or service.

When it comes to the use of social media tools and new communication technologies, however, the "perception is the reality" mantra is not only untrue, it is downright misleading. Some "truisms" I heard and felt yesterday from speakers as well as from attendees included: 1) Gen Y is all about teams, collaboration and technology. 2) If you aren't using social media tools you are behind. 3) Giving/empowering individuals to create content will elect a president. (therefore it will always be a success) 4) Social Media will save the world.

Ok, so that last one is a bit over the top (grin).

The reality with these points is that there is a thread of truth in all of them. But at the same time, there is much about them that may lead you down a primrose path.

Yesterday at #cxage I presented a workshop on Social Media Tools to expand your community, business and mind. And as with all of my workshops, sessions, etc, I started with a disclaimer. Believe it or not, NOT EVERYONE is using Twitter. Not EVERYONE is using social media.

Where did we get the idea that EVERYONE is using these tools? When did we get the idea that the old rules no longer apply to new tools?

As a professor it is my job to teach the foundation of marketing to my students. I weave in so-called "old school" stuff like, target market and competitive analysis and goal setting with all the possible tools in which the message can be delivered. We talk about RADIO, TV, PRINT and WEB. We talk about engaging with you customer via MAIL, PHONE, EMAIL, FORUMS, BLOGS, MICRO-BLOGS. In short we talk about how to utilize best-practices to reach and engage with your audience.

The tools themselves, while providing a host of opportunities, are less important than the message and the goals that are set.

Let's look at each "truism" from above in the context of REAL reality.

Gen Y is all about Teams, Collaboration and Technology

Um. No. This is not the case. While individuals who are younger (remember I teach them) do work in many group settings, not ALL want to be collaborative. Not ALL want to work in a group and certainly not ALL are good with technology. Time and time again, I see students who are a whiz with their cellphone and an iPod freeze up when it is time to use a content management system, or work with blog software and explore Second Life. We get ourselves into trouble if we base decisions in the workplace on the sense that Gen Y knows ALL of these things. Blanket statements like this mean we forget about individuals, their experiences, their strengths and their challenges. We set an unfair expectation on a "group" of people. It is just another way to stereotype a group of people. Rather, consider that often times there is strength in a group and safety in a group, especially when someone is learning. This issue is the same as we look at ANY age group.

If you aren't using Social Media Tools you are behind the times.

Um...no. Not at all. Yes, the media landscape is changing -- daily, actually. Yes, internet-based messaging and collaboration tools are cropping up all over that provide exciting and interesting opportunities. Yes, traditional advertising is expensive and it is hard to measure ROI. At the same time, one should never "jump" into a tool just because "EVERYONE" is doing it. If your target market is using social media tools then you should be there. If it works for your brand then you should be there. Does this mean you shouldn't pay attention and listen to the streams of information that are flowing out there? Nope. You may not need to use the platform to market your product or service yet, but you do need to be aware and listen. From a strategic perspective this is no different than monitoring the news media to see what letters to the editor are being placed, or what article has been written about your business. This "old school" process is the same -- there are just more places you need to listen.

A new study from HubSpot shows that not everyone who is on Twitter is even using Twitter that much. Well, how could this be since EVERYONE is on Twitter? Common sense. Twitter hasn't been around very long. People who are on Twitter right now are learning how to use it in a host of different ways but in reality, are making it up as they go. There are no rules, no best practices -- there are examples of businesses that have used it and gotten positive results and there are examples of those who have used it and failed miserably. By the way, according to Twellow there are 1,399 people on Twitter in Vermont. According to the 2008 Census, there are approx. 621,000 people in the state of Vermont. So it's clear that not EVERY Vermonter is on Twitter.

So, listen. Be aware of what is going on, but do not feel pressured to jump in just because "EVERYONE" is there.

Giving/empowering individuals to create content will elect a president. I'm sorry. I just can't buy this one. I have great respect for Mr. Masie, but while 69,498,215 people voted for Obama, 59,948,240 voted for McCain. Both candidates used a host of social media tools and let individuals create content, comment, and meet up. Remember that Ron Paul utilized social media most effectively and raised $6 million in one day! If the argument is that the YOUTH voted for Obama because he engaged them/empowered them with Social Media I would have to disagree. There were just too many OTHER factors. Take a look at this great breakdown from CivicYouth.org, the website of CIRCLE (The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement) which conducts research on the civic and political engagement of Americans between the ages of 15 and 25 and you'll get a sense for the complexity. Note not one mention of social media as a driver. Is it true that ALL the campaigns utilized new social media tools like never before? Yes. Do I believe that we will see more use of online communication and engagement tools in future elections? Yes I do. I just don't believe they are the reason why someone will be elected.

Finally -- Social Media will Save the World.

Yeah, I believe this one (smile). Seriously, I believe that what has changed is that individuals now have access to a myriad of tools in which to engage around issues they care about. The potential to use these tools to make positive change in the world is amazing -- but, let's all remember that these are just tools and much like any tool can be used for pretty much any purpose. Andrew Keen would argue that giving this much power to the people dooms us all to a world of frivolous, insipid content that is meaningless because, well, most of us are just amateurs (See Keen's book, The Cult of the Amateur) and we need some type of editing.

The real change with social media is the access to tools that empower the individual to reach a wide audience like never before. I agree that organizations have to adapt to this actual reality and learn how to manage information better since they can no longer control it all.

Just remember not to fall into the age old trap that "Everyone" is doing it. It's a bad reason for just about everything.

Social Media Breakfast: Small Town, Pot-Lucks, Beer and Giving Back

Yesterday I was lucky to be part of the first Social Media Breakfast held here in Burlington, VT. In my humble opinion I would say we hit it out of the park. The brainchild of Digalicious founder, Rich Nadworny, our Burlington event was based on the Social Media Breakfast concept that has hit major cities around the country. Not to be out done, we had to have one here, with a double twist of local connection and giving back to the community.

Rich brought in CC Chapman and Todd Defren, two Boston Marketing and PR businessmen who specialize in helping businesses integrate social media into their communication strategies. He also was able to bring in Mike Hayes with Magic Hat Brewery. Great presentations by all the speakers....presentations which were live blogged right here by a great marketing student, Amanda Jones. The posts about the presentations from CC Chapman, Todd Defren and Mike Hayes are below this post, or you can click on their names here to get to each separately.

What really made the event special was that Rich brought in a local non-profit that is having an amazing impact on the lives of women in developing countries and had the crowd of over 100 people brainstorm ways in which Grounds for Health could leverage social media tools to further their cause. This giving back segment gave the attendees a way to practice what they had just taken in during the earlier session and provided an amazing non-profit with great ideas. Marketing student Nichole Magoon captured some of the ideas via her live tweets:

Table 7--game with backing/$$ edge, green patch model, FB fan page, video blog, celebrities, training program #btvsmb

Table 8 witter #tag, coffee drinkers, companies donating money each time #tag used, landing page w/content, highlight co-op ea. mo. #btvsmb Table 8 (con't) donate and get S.M. badge, bracelet with Twitter name, email list #btvsmb

Table 10--blogs; coffee socials @churches--donations, and social media, volunteers; women bloggers + health, WebMD (&the like) #btvsmb

Table 4(?)-- cup campaigns, coffee companies aligning with cervical cancer groups, Twitter, videos, month dedicated to cause #btvsmb

Table 11--videos, targeted ads in FB, women + coffee lovers (go where the fish are!) #btvsmb

Table 12 --contacting hospitals to only use G4H coffee, offering med. profs. lessons in Spanish #btvsmbTable 12 (con't)--video journals (follow doctors through experience), FB Spanish medical comm. #btvsmb

Champlain Students--program "building from the Grounds up", gather content and use social media to connect, going green movement #btvsmb Champlain students--connecting with colleges and passionate students, coffee talks, street teams, etc... #btvsmb #campchamp

Great local coverage and a lot of twitter-chat made the event dynamic, fun and highlighted some of the amazing, innovative work that is being done right here in Burlington, VT.

I was glad that Rich invited me to be part of the planning for this event and that our Division of Communication and Creative Media, under the leadership of Dean Jeff Rutenbeck gets the importance of bringing the local community together around social media and communication technologies. Also great to have the Burlington Free Press as a sponsor, and to see so many from the BFP in the audience. We are very lucky here to have progressive, forward thinking print publications who are examining ways in which to utilize social media and online tools to keep all of us informed.

I have to say that students Amanda Jones (guest blogger), Nichole Magoon (live-tweeter), Kelly Diamond (live-tweeter), Melissa Tuburzio (support and live-tweeter) and Riva Dumont (support) were AWESOME. Not only did they help keep things running smoothly, they really captured the high points of the event through Twitter. You should follow them. They are going to do GREAT things...maybe even for YOUR business. (Yes, shameless plug for my students...sue me!)

Here's some of the media coverage that came from the event:

• Burlington Free Press (pre-event)
• Burlington Free Press (post-event)
• WCAX
• Cynthea's Spa Blog Post at the BFP site (post-event)
• Vlog from Joe Mescher

The hashtag for the event was #btvsmb. Check out the stream before it flows away!

Looking forward to the next one in the fall.

Wizard of Wonderments and Digital Delights

Right out of the gate Mike Hayes of Magic Hat encourages businesses to get to know their customers and call them to action with contests. It is important to know your customers. He reiterates Todd Defren's point to use social networks to educate customers and to bring information to them.

What's cool in social media? Right now, Facebook and Twitter are on top while Myspace has fallen behind. Nobody knows what the next cool, or shiny, online tool is. During his presentation, Mike displayed a chart of Facebook, Twitter and Myspace users, Facebook and Twitter show the most immediate growth and more overall users than Myspace, whose aquisition of new users has leveled off and is growing at a comparatively slow rate.

In terms of tracking activity, Twitter has link and re-tweet quotients which allows us to see how and where the information is being shared. We can also track in terms of the number followers, fans and friends we have and the rate at which these numbers are growing. Facebook's new back end also provides better feed back. As users give ads a thumbs up or thumbs down, provide feedback on ad relevancy, change their profile information, click through the fan page, share information through news feeds, invitations, notifications etc. we are clued into their preferences and gain a better understanding on how to reach them in that medium.

Magic hat has used twitter in very creative ways to connect with their customer. At the release of their latest beer, they held a virtual tasting via twitter. They had a video stream from brewery and enabled followers to "tweet" about their new beer which generated a hashtag. This allowed them to gain feedback from customers on their new beer enabling them to use the information in the development of future beers.

Way to go Magic Hat, awesome implementation of social media!

-Amanda

Now onto a breakout session for a social media brain storm for Grounds for health!

Todd Defren on Social Media Content

This morning, Todd is speaking on bringing information and social media content to the right people on the web.

C.C. Chapman said Social Media is a small town. Todd Defren says Social Media is a block party. I see a theme. Here are a few take aways from Todd Defran's presentation:

Bring content to the block party
Take the information to the people who need it. Find potential-- qualified -- customers on blogs and twitter. Don't spam. Be selective.

Repurpose your content as necessary
Get the value out of your advertising dollar. Repurpose media as many times as possible or necessary. Before shelfing your old videos figure out how you can use them in social media to reach the right people.

Ask your fans/customers to create media for you.
If you're brand's fans from Poland have 250,000 views on their video about your company on YouTube, leverage that. Use their passion for your brand and their social network to promote your brand.

Advice from Todd Defren
Know thy customers
Where are they hanging out?
What content to they share?
What are your competitors doing?

Engage before content creation

Create compelling content
Start slow; experiment (nobody will get mad at you for testing new stuff)
Act on user feedback
Repeat

Give people what they want

Great presentation by Todd Defren at the Social Media Breakfast in Burlington.

-Amanda

Stay Tuned for Mike Hayes - Wizard of Wonderments and Digital Delights Magic Hat Brewing Company

Social Media as a Small Town

Speaker C.C. Champman on how Social Media is much like a small town

Online everyone knows everyone. Social media is about who you know and how you treat people. It's about your neighbors and your reputation. It is not like old media where people are forced to pay attention. Facebook, Twitter and the like are not the old-media flashy billboards.

According to C.C. Chapman the first step to using social media is not, in fact, going directly to the tools. The first step should always be to set goals. Ask yourself What am I trying to do? What do I want to accomplish? Then, move to the tools but remember, social media is not a magic cure for poor business practices. If your product or customer service isn't good then social media is not going to help you, it will make it worse.

Another piece of advice from C.C. -- don't go for the shiny new toy. Everyone get's too hyped up over the latest social media trend. Business shouldn't waste their time on new technologies until they've been tested by connoisseurs and professionals like C.C. and Todd Defren. Not everyone needs a blog just because News Week says so.

On the internet it's about who you know. When using social media for your business, focus on the people first.-Talk to them like they're humans, have real conversations, address their concerns. Don't try to force products.

Don't be afraid of what people might say about your company. People love to talk online and they're probably doing so right now. There are always trouble makers who are going to complain but there are also the loyalists who will rave about your brand and product. Do not be afraid of bad conversation it gives you a chance to step in and be a part of the conversation and find out what could be improved.

Online your personal and brand reputations are everything. People don't always buy from a place because it's cheap, they buy from the place that provides a good customer experience. Consumers trust each other more than they will trust any advertisement. Customer reviews and personal recommendations can be very effective.

Social media isn't easy. It takes a lot of work. You have to pay attention to it and constantly be involved in it. It is not a passive medium. Social media is an opportunity to have real conversations. People have the chance to talk to everyone else more openly. The conversations should be candid. C.C. advises us to keep the PR people away, as responses to critical questions shouldn't sound like press releases but genuine, non cookie-cutter feedback. It is important to know how to respond to blogs, tweets and podcasts. Social media must be there all the time, it must be current, we need to pay attention. There are opportunities to get in there and get new customers and if people are not in social media all the time then they're missing out on potential business opportunities.

C.C. Chapman's last piece of advice was don't forget to have fun. It's a fun medium, take advantage of it. Give people a reason to talk about your brand. Find customers who love your brand and ask them to talk about it. Share the love of the product.

Now for a presentation from Todd Defren
-Amanda

Stay tuned for more from the Social Media Breakfast

Social Media Breakfast @ Champlain College

Hey everyone,

My name is Amanda and I'm one of Elaine's students at Champlain College. She asked me to live blog today at the Social Media Breakfast here in Burlington, Vermont also known as #btvsmb on twitter. Over the next few hours I'll be updating about the exciting event and noteworthy speakers, so tune it and enjoy!

Amanda
Marketing & Graphic Design Student
Champlain College
Burlington, VT

Summer Speaker Series Begins TODAY!

I've been asked to be a speaker and moderator and participant in some interesting local conferences this summer and since my first engagement is today, it seemed like an appropriate time to talk about my Summer '09 Speaking Tour!

Women Business Owners Network
TODAY (May 15th) from 1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
I'll be speaking (after lunch) about "Small Business Online Marketing Success Stories". I've got one hour to tell the audience about some very interesting and diverse organizations that have one thing in common: they are all in Vermont. Who will I be talking about? Magic Hat Brewery, Flash Bags, Cynthea's Spa, Seven Days, The Inn at the Round Barn Farm and The Healthy Hippie. Why? Well as I'll be telling the audience today, they are all doing a mix of interesting things with interactive media -- from Twitter to Video and Facebook to Blogging -- they are all engaging with their customers, and they seem to be having fun doing it.

Alliance for Community Media Northeast Regional Conference
Thursday, May 21st from 2:00 p.m - 3:30 p.m.
I'll be moderating a panel discussion on Nonprofits & Media Reformers Turning to Web 2.0. This will be very interesting as we'll be hearing from The Snelling Center, Planned Parenthood and the Vermont Workers Center on how they are using social and interactive media to connect with their constituents. I've built in lots of time for Q&A so it should prove informative and engaging. By the way, the Twitter hashtag for the event is #acmne09.

Burlington Social Media Breakfast
Monday, June 1st from 8:00 a.m. - 12 noon
I'll be participating in the first Burlington Social Media Breakfast (Twitter hashtag #btvsmb) that is a co-production of Digalicious and Champlain's Communication and Creative Media Division, and sponsored by the Burlington Free Press. It will feature CC Chapman of The Advance Guard and Todd Defren of Shift Communication as well as Mike Hayes from Magic Hat Brewery. Special guest live tweeters will include some amazing marketing students who you can follow on twitter at: @impersnickety, @keldia, @barqhasbite87 and @schuylerhunton.

Leadership in a Connected Age
Tuesday, June 9th from 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
I'll be presenting from 1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. on social media tools. Title of my presentation is "Behind the Curtain – Using Social Media Tools to Expand Your Community, Business, and Mind". Sounds pretty cool eh? I'll let you know closer to the date what I'll actually be covering!

Summer Institute for Educators
Monday, June 22nd through Friday, June 26th
I'll be presenting on social media and social networking in the classroom. Should prove great fun. The plans for this one keep evolving just like the social media world keeps evolving. More on this later.

Whew! That's what is on my whiteboard for now. Hope to see you at one of them.

Advice from the Trenches: Words Grads Should Live By

As serendipity would have it, Jeremiah Owyang of Forrester Research posted a very interesting blog today. It was about what criteria people look for when hiring/looking for social media services.

I posted a response to his post in hopes to get deeper insight into a more general question which was:

Jeremiah:

More of a question than a comment — your focus here is on those with experience to help an organization with their “social media” efforts. I’m wondering what type of skills you might expect from graduating college seniors when it comes to social media and marketing?

As a college prof who teaches Internet-based Marketing I’ve been working hard to ensure my students are grounded in Marketing best practices and that they are up to date on the latest tools (as much as a 15 week class can get them there).

So, if a college grad came to you fresh out of college with a marketing degree what would you want to see on their resume or LinkedIn account?

Leave it to the social media community to provide me with timely, relevant advice for my students and other grads interested in Communications, Marketing and PR. Here are some excerpts that were posted in the comment section as well as some advice that came to me via email. (To read the full discussion/comments go to the original post: http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2009/04/08/social-media-services/)

1. jeremiah_owyang: A good question. When it comes to the freshly minted graduates, I personally would focus on: 1) Eagerness and willingness to learn, then followed by 2) related accomplishments in the field they are pursuing. Here’s where internships, school projects, and volunteer work come into play, giving graduates related experience as they enter the workforce. Specifically, if they were going to head into the social media field or marketing in general, they should be able to demonstrate their abilities around their own personal brand. What and how they use the tools, in addition to what they say will be telling.
   
2. Rick Murray : The first thing we look for at Edelman is raw intellect. We want people who can think; we can teach them PR. Second, is a real passion for learning; this is often articulated as a love of news, and/or an awareness of what’s new and emerging in society, politics, technology, etc. Third, is how well they communicate and present themselves.
   Fourth, is like-ability and perceived cultural fit. Increasingly however, the prelude to all of these is a quick scan of the search engines to see how findable they are, and to what extent are they using social media / networking to express themselves. It’s not that we don’t hire people who aren’t knowledgable about and avid users of social media; we most certainly do. That said, a candidate’s value to us — especially those at entry level — is dramatically enhanced if they are.
   
3. melissa cheater ...when in the process of hiring an entry level social media position - we definitely went the way of recent grads from two great local programs - and got nothing in the way of hands on experience. We ended up hiring a media masters student but I think the criteria above from Rick would have found us someone who could hit the ground running .. It’s true that you can teach pr and marketing, so it is important to focus on initiative, innovation, passion and problem solving/ability to survive...
   
4. Joseph Kingsbury I’d also echo Rick Murray’s point about raw intellect. To use a clumsy sports analogy, look for people that can run fast, hit hard and who have non-stop motors; you can teach them the playbook.
   
5. Elyse Tager We are a media strategy, planning and buying agency and have hired several newly minted grads in the past - some successful, some not so. Social media knowledge has given these people a whole new skill set to leverage in the job search. However, I would (and will in future hires) look first for all those traits that Rick Murray mentions above. I would also add that the importance of good communication skills and a strong sense of professionalism is even more important in the social media realm, since all communications are “out there”. One last thought - Hiring is an unnatural act at best and intuition plays a key part.
   
6. Scott Hammond (via email): We look for two things above all others: social media aptitude and communication skills. By social media aptitude I mean user aptitude of traditional social media channels in the Myspace/Facebook/Twitter-verse. We don't really care if someone can quote HTML code from memory, or if they have designed multiple sites, because the tech skills we use are simple and easily taught. We do care that someone is an active participant in social media, plugged in to multiple channels, and a positive contributor in those spaces. One of our interview "trip questions" is asking someone what their internet usage habits are. The correct answer should go something like, "I wake up, check e-mails and messages on Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter, brush my teeth and shower.....I put on my pj's and check messages on Myspace Facebook and Twitter one last time before going to sleep." By communications skills I mean reading comprehension and composition specifically. We like people who have read and written A LOT in the past, and English and History majors always get a careful look. This is key because reading messages and responding intelligently to them is either the job itself, or the skill set required to execute new plans.

So there you have it. Advice from the trenches. Many thanks to @jowyang, @rickmurray, @mmbc, @jkingsbury, @ElyseTager and @scotty_nola for their advice.

Anyone else have advice for graduating students?

Lessons from the Classroom: Facebook Business Pages, Blogging and Twitter

It began simply enough. The goal was to be able to show my Internet-based Marketing students how the new FB Business Profile Pages, Blogging and Twitter all serve different purposes to further the brand. Oh, and while doing that work in how to develop the content for each in order to achieve that mission. And...um...how to know when to use which and when not to...and do it in less than an hour.

So, here it is:

• Facebook Business Profile = Engagement
• Blogging = Expertise
• Twitter = Value

I know. That's not quite enough info is it?

Facebook Business Profile
The facebook redesign which seemed to be the bane of my students' existence has become a golden opportunity for businesses. In today's social media landscape, a brand that wants to fully engage with their customers now has a way in which to do that -- through Facebook. How? By doing the same things I can do as a person -- connect with my friends, comment on their walls, send messages, posting photos, joining groups...and my friends can comment on my posts and engage in discussions. Many others can see and take part in these discussions hence my emphasis on engagement.

Take a look at how Magic Hat is ENGAGING with their customers on their Facebook Profile Page



When you first go to the Magic Hat FB page, you come to this tab (Did I mention above that businesses can control the "landing page"?) Lot's of great pics and videos that show an exciting and interesting brand (which is what Magic Hat is all about).





So they caught my attention above. And now on the Wall I, as a consumer can comment on their status posts along with other fans and Magic Hat can respond to me directly. (Which they've done)





Is Magic Hat fully there yet? No. But as a local Vermont-based Company they are really taking advantage of a great opportunity to provide a space where they can engage with their customers and their customers can engage with the brand.

Should Magic Hat have a FB page at all? YES. Their target market is there. Their brand image fits with the FB landscape.

How should they measure their ROI? Number of fans is one simple way, but the true test is engagement. How many people are engaging on the page? How many in discussions? On events? Just like ANY site, Magic Hat should set clear objectives that are measurable so they can determine the ROI for their use of FB.

Blogging to build Expertise

My point of view on blogging is that it is not about selling. A blog is about showing your customers and potential customers who you are and what you are about. It boils down to creating a sense of expertise. Why would I, as a customer, trust YOU? Some great examples (also from Vermont, of course) include Seventh Generation's Blog: The Inspired Protagonist. I LOVE this blog. It really highlights why I have built a trust for Seventh Generation.

Here's another by local Web Development and Marketing Firm Union Street Media. If you don't have them bookmarked and aren't grabbing this firms FREE expertise (in the form of a well written, team blog with timely, important information) you are missing a great opportunity. So, why would they give this information away for FREE? Simple. Their blog shows their expertise. As a reader you learn to trust them and when it comes time to do something with your website, or enhance your Internet marketing strategy or focus in on blogging, who are you going to remember? Yep. They got you because they have shown, more than titles and puffy language, that they know their stuff.

Building Value with Twitter
Perhaps the biggest challenge right now is to address how something like Twitter can help in a brands marketing strategy. There are many words of advice out there so I'll add to the chaos (grin) with my thoughts.


There is NO VALUE in engaging in what I call "Follow Fever". You know what that is. It's a sickness that has struck many a Tweeter -- how many people can I get to follow me and how fast can I do it? Like a race. Mass follow tools are sprouting up like so many weeds. At the end of the day if 5,000 people are following you and you mass follow them back, how has that helped to increase your brand image? How does that help you reach your target market? At the end of the day you have a bunch of useless Twits (yeah, not a typo) following you for no good reason other than they might have follow fever too.


So, STOP with the follow fever. Start by assessing your brand image and how you will use Twitter to ADD VALUE for your customers, because at the end of the day, that is what it is all about.

Why would I follow anyone? I follow the people I do for specific reasons:

1. They provide valuable information for the work I do. People including (but not limited to) @rohitbhargava, @prsarahevans, @bethharte and @dannybrown and locals @gahlord, @cresmer and @rnadworny all help me do the work I do every day.
2. They expand my business and local network. Do they share my professional interests? are they in my local geographic region?
3. Are they my students or students at Champlain College?

Who don't I follow?

1. Anyone who is a "self-proclaimed" expert/wizard/maven/guru...etc.
2. Anyone who doesn't tell me who they are.

For a business, the value of Twitter is that you can reach out to customers who are passionate (either really really happy...or really really unhappy) in a way that brings value to the relationship. ComcastCares is a great example. Customer Service via Twitter. Provides VALUE for the customer. JetBlue is another example that provides the customer service access via Twitter. Locally we have some great examples of value creation through our Print News Media from Seven Days and the Burlington Free Press who are both utilizing Twitter in interesting ways. This was clearly evident today in Vermont during the veto override of the same sex marriage bill. Historic day in VT and Twitter is how I followed the process thanks to @shaytotten.

Another great local example of a company that is adding customer value through Twitter? Magic Hat! Their recent "Twitter Taste Live" event where they had several of their brewers available along with a Beer critic Tweeting Live responses to customers questions as they all sampled beers from the Spring Fever Pack. Um WOW! Great way to provide extra special value. Not only do I get my beer, but I get to Tweet about it with other people and learn great information.

How do you measure the ROI on something like that? How many people participated? Was there a spike in sales prior to the event? How many people blogged about it? What kind of "buzz" (yeah, I had too) did it create?

So there you have it. Why I think FB is for customer engagement, Blogging is for building expertise and Twitter is for creating customer value.

One final point that I made to my students was that if your brand is using any combination of these then they should all be linked to each other.

Champlain For Reel: Crowdsourcing at Champlain College

What do you get when you ask Champlain College students to tell the world what makes us special?

You get Champlain For Reel of course.

It's our own little bit of neighborhood crowdsourcing from students in a wide variety of majors telling you what they have gotten out of their experience here. Now, while I'm not in any of them (sigh), I can attest to the fact that they are all pretty representative of our campus and student body as a whole.

To see them all go to http://www.youtube.com/user/champlainforreel

Here's a few that I think do a great job of telling the "reel" story about Champlain. And by the way, a lot of what they capture is WHY I WORK here in the first place (grin).

One Thing



Champlain College: What it is...



Get Lifted



Camp Champ



A Daily Motion



Don't you wish you went here?